Wiley Accounting
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Discussion Topics for Today's Classroom

The college entrance scam

Description: Did you hear the news this past week about the college entrance scam? About 50 people – including an Academy Award nominee – were arrested in the United States for their roles in gaming the admissions system at elite schools, all with the aid of William Rick Singer. Singer, in exchange for healthy sums of cash, helped the students get into top schools by either cheating on entrance tests like the SATs or by getting sport coaches to declare that the prospective students were athletic recruits. The parents could then claim their payments to Singer as tax deductions since the cash was funnelled through a so-called charitable foundation.

1) How would feel if you found out your parents had gamed the admissions process to get you into college?

2) In an ethics case we often discuss “stakeholders.” Which stakeholders have been impacted adversely by this situation?

3) The feature story at the start of Chapter 4 in Wiley’s Financial Accounting: Tools for Business Decision-Making talks about the work of Controller Carter Scott at Western University in London, Ontario. Are there any controls a Canadian university could establish to prevent or detect such a fraud?